TRAGIC parents Samantha Tolley and Keith Young had a volatile and violent relationship.

TRAGIC parents Samantha Tolley and Keith Young had a volatile and violent relationship.

The Wrexham inquest into the deaths of Young and the couple's four children - Joshua, seven, Thomas, six, Callum, five, and Daniel, three - heard how their stormy partnership fell apart amid assaults, threats and infidelity.

The couple had first met when she was just a 14-year-old schoolgirl. He was already in a relationship with another woman.

"I was besotted with him, he was 10 years older than me, he was tall and nice looking with blonde hair. He was working on the doors at clubs and looked very strong. Our relationship was secret, known only to the two of us," she said in a statement.

But Young was already in a relationship and continued to see both women. His girlfriend had a baby daughter and they lived together. But then Miss Tolley fell pregnant with Joshua, and their relationship became public.

Young's girlfriend moved out of the house and Miss Tolley moved in at Barnbrook Close, Winsford.

At first it was a good relationship, but "it changed" said North East Wales coroner John Hughes.

After she moved in with him, she said some nights Young would not come home.

But after the birth of Joshua things seemed to improve for a while.

Then during Christmas 1995 she claims she was physically assaulted by him. "Things calmed down again and I fell pregnant with my second child Tom, who was born in October 1996.

"I had a close relationship with my family which he didn't like, he saw them as a threat.

"He got more and more controlling. We had more arguments and there was more violence."

Unknown to Young she started claiming income support because they had #9,000 of debt. By the time they moved into Littler Lane, she was pregnant with Daniel.

But because of the constant arguments she moved out into a hostel. She took an overdose because of her depression and had to be rushed to hospital.

Young still had regular access to the children although Miss Tolley believed he had started a relationship with another woman.

Although they lived apart the relationship between the estranged pair seemed to improve. Sometimes Young would call and stay the night. But Miss Tolley said he told her if he could not have her, no one would.

During one violent episode police were called and Young was arrested - but she forgave him.

One night they went out together for a drink. When they returned home at 3am another woman was in the house, claiming she was pregnant with Young's baby. There was a terrible row, said Miss Tolley, who suffered a broken wrist in a scuffle.

Police were called again and Young faced prison. But Samantha decided to drop the charges.

Despite the violence, the couple married in June 2001. But the relationship deteriorated further and by January this year Miss Tolley had moved the boys to a council house in nearby Weaverham, Cheshire.

She started a new relationship at around the same time and fell pregnant to her new lover.

Young was officially allowed to see the boys on Wednesdays and every other weekend. However, Miss Tolley allowed him almost unrestricted access as he appeared to dote on the children.

In the weeks leading up to the killings, Young made repeated threats to family and friends that he planned to commit suicide and take the boys with him.

Two days before the killing he told Miss Tolley he loved her more than his children and if he could not have her, then he did not want the children.

Previously he made a dark threat about divorce proceedings, telling her that if he received a letter from a solicitor "things would go with a bang and you would be left standing with your finger on your lip wondering what happened".

After a quarrel and an assault during Christmas 2002, Miss Tolley obtained court orders against him and started to organise a divorce.

John Young, of Winsford, told the inquest his brother had been greatly affected by two major incidents in his life.

The death of their mother from a brain tumour, just weeks after their grandmother had died - and being barred from seeing the daughter he had had from his first relationship. The mother of his daughter had also become involved in a relationship with another member of the Young family which had compounded the problem.

But Mr Hughes said Keith Young went from being a happy, carefree man to a very changed character when it was made public in March that his estranged wife had been seeing another man and was pregnant.

She broke the news to him that she was five weeks pregnant while they were on a shopping trip to Broughton Shopping Park.

"He took it quite well while we were together," she said.

But when they got back to Winsford he asked her if she would abort the baby and she refused.

"He asked me to go to bed with him one last time and I agreed," she said.

Several witnesses told how Keith Young became more agitated about getting Miss Tolley back and threatened he could take no more and would kill himself and the boys.

No one could believe his threat against the boys because he loved them so much.